Controlling apparatus



Oct. 31, 1967 R. SCHMI TZ- 3,350,053

CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5, 1963 F I G. 'l /26 /24 /22 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. ROBERT SCHMlTZ ATTORNEY.

1957 R. scHMn'z, 3,350,053

CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 5, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR. ROBERT SCHMITZ Zia/ w ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,350,053 CONTROLLING APPARATUS Robert Schmitz, Hatboro, Pa., assignor to Honeywell Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 5, 1963, Ser. No. 256,331 6 Claims. (Cl. 251-) The object of the present invention is to provide a pinch valve in the form of a flow tube section that can be readily inserted in a fluid process flow line.

One difficulty that has heretofore been encountered in the use of pinch valves is that repeated squeezing of the resilient part of the valve causes it to be stretched into a permanently flabby, unusable condition.

Various attempts have been made to overcome this difliculty by, for example, increasing the length of the pinch valve sleeve so that the aforementioned stretching can be spread over a greater length of material and thereby reduce the amount of stretching that occurs at the pinched portion of the valve sleeve. However, such a solution is not satisfactory because of the added cost of the extra material that is required to produce the pinch valve. Another reason why this solution has not been satisfactory is that the resulting overall shape of the valve is too cumbersome to handle.

It is, therefore, another object of the present invention ot disclose a compact pinch valve construction in which substantially no stretching will occur in the resilient material of the valve sleeve when it is moved between an open, unsqueezed position and a closed, completely squeezed tight position.

It is a more specific object of the invention to provide a unique, compact pinch valve of the aforementioned type whose body and sleeve diameter to length ratio can be advantageously reduced to as low a value as on (1) to two (2).

Another difliculty that has heretofore been encountered in the use of commercially-available pinch valves is that the flange portions at the ends of the valve sleeve are pulled toward the center of the valve while the central portion of the valve sleeve is being squeezed to a closed position.

It is, therefore, still another object of the invention to disclose a compact pinch valve of the aforementioned type in which no pulling of the end flanges of this valve sleeve will occur while the valve sleeve is moved between an open, unsqueezed position and a closed, completely squeeze tight position.

More specifically, it is another object of the invention to disclose a unitary sleeve for the aforementioned compact pinch valve having a deformable central portion of a substantially semi-spherical shape onfiguration, a tapered wall portion extending outwardly in a radial plane from the opposite sides of the central portion toward opposite flanged ends of the sleeve.

It is another specific object of the present invention to provide an opening in the pinch valve flow tube section for accommodating the movement of a semi-spherical surface of an associated valve plug into increasing surface to surface joint moving engagement with the external surface of the deformable central portion of the sleeve when the valve is moved toward a closed position and vice-versa.

It is another object of the invention to characteristically shape the inner wall portions of the flow tube section so that it is in surface to surface contact with the aforementioned molded tapered-shaped wall portions of the sleeve.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a sleeve of the aforementioned pinch valve construction which can be usefully employed in a variety of dilferent types of flow process lines such as a hot food process or water treatment process flow line such as that used for the treatment of boiler feed water.

A better understanding of the present invention may be had from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side elevation view and cross-section of the flow tube section and pinch valve in a fluid prcoess flow line;

FIG. 2 shows an external top plan View of the deformable pinch valve sleeve that is shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along sectional line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the position of the deformable portion of the sleeve when it is in an open and closed position;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a triangular-shaped portion of the. sleeve taken along section line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is another cross-sectional view of the triangularshaped portion of the sleeve taken along the section line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a modified form of a deformable central portion which can be used in lieu of the central portion of the pinch valve sleeve shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the section line 7-7 of FIG. 1 with the sleeve and actuator removed.

The pinch valve 10, shown in FIG. 1, is comprised of a resilient sleeve 12 which is preferably made of a single molded construction, a rigid body 14, and a valve plug actuating unit 16.

The sleeve 12 is comprised of a flange 18, 20 at its respective right and left ends, a deformable central portion 22 of a substantially semi-spherical shaped configuration and tapered wall portions 24, 26 which extend outwardly in a radial plane from opposite sides of the central portion 22.

When the pinch valve is required to meet certain sanitary standards such as are encountered in the food process and water treatment fields, the pinch valve sleeve is made of a unitary molded resilient material that is non-toxic, inert to chemicals and abrasive resistance. One such commercially-available material that would meet these requirements is sold under the trade name of Hypalon.

When the pinch valve is required to withstand high temperatures extending to the 600 degree Fahrenheit range, the pinch valve sleeve 12 is made of a unitary resilient material, such as the commercially-available material sold under the trade name of Viton.

The central portion 22 of this sleeve 12 is preferably made of the molded-shaped construction, as shown in solid line form in FIG. 1. In lieu of the central portion 22 of the sleeve 12 shown in FIG. 1, this central portion can be made of the bulged, molded modified construction 22A shown in FIG. 6.

Each of the inner wall surface portions 28, 30 of the rigid valve body 14 are constructed of a tapered configuration so that the associated tapered portions 24, 26 of the sleeve 12 can be placed in a snug, unstretched engagement with the last-mentioned portions when the sleeve is in the assembled position shown in FIG. 1.

The ends of the valve body have cylindrically-shaped flanges thereon which are identified as reference numerals 32, 34 in FIG. 1 of the drawing.

Stainless steel, manually-operated, snap-action, toggle- -actuated clamping members 36, 38 which may be of a commercially-available type, e.g. a clamp commonly referred to in the sanitary fitting trade as a Tri-Clamp, may be used to retain the flanges 30, 34 of the pinch valve in a fixed position with the flanged sections 40 and 42 of portions 44, 4-6 of a flow line into which this pinch valve .10 is inserted.

The upper portion of the pinch valve body 14, shown in FIG. 1, has a cylindrically-shaped wall surface 48 that forms an aperture in the upper portion of the valve body 14. A lower end surface portion of the cylindricallyshaped wall surface 48 is joined by substantially flat surfaces 50, 52 to the lowermost ends of the respective tapered valve body surface portions 28, 30.

The surface portion 28, shown in FIG. 1, forms one side surface of a triangular-shaped protuberance 54 that extends between two opposite side wall portions of the pinch valve body 14. The surface portion 30 shown in FIG. 1 that forms one side surface of another triangularshaped protuberance 56 extends between two other side wall portions of the pinch valve 14.

A threaded surface 58 is formed on an upper end surface portion of the cylindrically-shaped wall surface 48. The lower end 60 of the casing 62 of the valve plug actuating unit 16 is shown in threaded engagement with the body surface 58.

A cylindrical surface 64 formed in the central portion of the plug actuating unit casing 62 has an outer surface of a sleeve bearing 66 in forced fit engagement therewith. The stem 68 of the pinch valve is shown in FIG. 1 in slidable engagement with the inner surface of the sleeve bearing 66.

A valve plug 70 is provided with a cylindrical surface 72 that forms an aperture therein into which the lower end of the stem 68 is rigidly connected. The top peripheral surface 74 of the unitary plug is of a cylindricalshaped configuration and the remaining lower surface 76 of the plug 70 is of a semi-spherical configuration, the lower surface portion of which is shown in solid line surface engagement with the outer surface of the top central portion of sleeve 12.

When the plug 70 is moved to its closed valve position, as shown in dotted-line form in FIG. 1, it can be seen that substantially the entire semi-spherical surface of the plug will be brought into contact with the central portion 22 of the sleeve 12.

The upper end of the stem 68 has a plate of cup-shaped configuration 78 threadedly connected thereto, as shown at 80, by means of a tap bolt 82. A compression spring 84 is shown retained between the plate 78 and a stationary cylindrically-shaped surface 86 of the valve actuating unit casing at 62.

A diaphragm 88 is shown as having a central portion thereof in contact with the top of the plates 78. The outer peripheral portion 90 of the diaphragm 88 is shown sandwiched in fluid tight relation between the top surface of the actuator casing 62 and a stationary cylindrical plate 92 which forms a fluid pressure chamber 94 with the diaphragm 88.

A suitable number of tap bolts and washers, such as the tap bolt and washer connections 96, 98; 100, 102, pass through apertures, not shown, in the plate 78 and the peripheral portion 90 of the diaphragm 88 and are threadedly connected to the upper peripheral portion 104 of the casing 62.

A cylindrical wall surface 105 is shown forming a passageway in the plate 92. A fluid transmitting conduit 106 is schematically shown in dash-line form connecting the passageway 105 that opens into the actuator chamber 94 with a port 108 of a three-way valve 110.

Another port 112 in the three-way valve 110 is connected by way of conduit 114, an elbow connection 116, conduit 118 and passageway 120 in the wall of the upstream end portion of the flow line 46.

A third port 122 in the three-way valve 110 is connected by way of conduit 124, elbow connection 126, conduit 128 and passageway 130 in the wall of the downstream end portion of the flow line 44.

The three-way valve 110 can be of a commerciallyavailable type which is either manually or automatically controlled. In either instance, the pinch valve can be moved to a first position to allow fluid to flow under a 4 preselected regulated pressure from the upstream end of the flow line 46 through the fluid transmission conduit 118, elbow 116, conduit 114, ports 112 and 108, conduit 106, passageway into the chamber 94.

The aforementioned action will apply a downward force against the diaphragm 88 and plate 76 to compress the spring 84. While spring 84 is being compressed by the plate 78, the stem attached to the plate 78 and the plug 70 will simultaneously be moved in a downward direction toward its closed dotted-line position. While the three-way valve is in the aforementioned first position, the port 122 of this three-way valve will be closed.

The plug 70 and the associated central portion 22 of the sleeve 12 will return to a selected position anywhere between their dotted-line and solid-line positions by closing otr' port 112 of the three-way valve 110 and connecting the then open ports 108, 122 by way of the conduit 124, elbow 126 to the conduit 128 and passageway 130 of the downstream end of the flow line 44.

During the movement of the plug 70 and the sleeve 12 between their open and closed positions, it can be seen from the aforementioned description that substantially the entire exterior surfaces of the sleeve or liner 12, are in engagement with the rigid interior surface of the pinch valve body 14 and the plug 10. Since substantially no stretching of the resilient sleeve 12 will take place during the aforementioned opening and closing of the valve 10, the fluid passing through the center of the sleeve will not cause the flanged ends 18, 20 of the sleeve 12 to be pulled toward the central portion of the sleeve as has heretofore been the case with other presently-available pinch valves.

A rolling action is effected between the central portion 22 of the sleeve 12 and plug 70 as the plug is moved between its solid line open and dotted closed positions. Because of this substantially frictionless rolling sleeve-onplug construction, a negligible force is all that is required to move the pinch valve from a fully open position to a fully closed position.

Because the pinch valve disclosed herein has the very desirable attributes of being compact, of a sanitary, lowfriction variety, easily closed with an abnormally small actuator force, long life can be expected from the sleeve used in this valve because substantially no stretching can occur therein when it is moved between an open, unsqueezed position and a closed, completely squeezed position.

What is claimed is:

1. A pinch valve adapted to be inserted as part of a flow pipe, comprising a valve body, a unitary resilient sleeve and a valve plug actuating unit, an inlet and outlet port in the valve body, an inner wall of the body forming a first passageway between the ports, two spaced-apart protuberances forming inner wall portions of the first passageway, a flexible sleeve of the same uniform wall thickness between its end portions extending through the passageway between the inlet and outlet ports and having outer surfaces thereof in physical surface to surface engagement with said protuberances, a second passageway opening into the first passageway and formed by two opposing side wall surfaces of the body and a surface of each of the protuberances, the actuating unit having a mechanically operable compressing means positioned within the second passageway, an actuated end of the compressing means being provided with a semisphericalshaped surface, the largest circumferential ring portion of said semispherical-shaped surface being operably positioned for movement from a non-engaged first position with the largest circumferential ring portion of a preformed flexible concave-shaped central portion of the sleeve that is positioned in the second passageway into rolling substantially frictionless physical contact with the last-mentioned circumferential preformed ring portion of the sleeve when moving the central sleeve portion toward an opposite portion of the sleeve that is in contact with the inner wall of the first passageway to thereby regulate the flow of fluid passing between the inlet and outlet ports, the sleeve having a transitional unstressed portion extending between the compressing means and protuberances in the fully closed position of the valve.

2. The pinch valve, as defined by claim 1, wherein the protuberances have converging tapered surfaces.

3. The pinch valve, as defined by claim 1, wherein the protuberances have converging tapered surfaces and the inside flow area encompassed by the sleeve extending through said passageways adjacent each protuberance is substantially one-half the flow area encompassed by the inner wall surface of the sleeves adjacent the inlet and outlet ports.

4. The pinch valve, as defined by claim 1, wherein the cross-section of the protuberances are of a triangularshaped configuration.

5. The pinch valve, as defined by claim 1, wherein the protuberances are of a triangular-shaped configuration, and wherein a portion of the sleeve is in physical contact with a surface portion of each triangular-shaped protuberance.

6. The pinch valve, as defined in claim 1, wherein the center of the flexible central portion of the sleeve is of a semi-spherical configuration and the periphery of the central portion is constructed to roll away from a surface of each protuberance onto the semi-spherical surface of the plug when the valve plug actuating unit is moved toward a closed position and to be rolled off of the semisphencal surface back onto the said surfaces of each protuberance when the valve plug actuating unit is moved away from the closed position toward an open valve position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,600,493 6/1952 Farris 251-5 X 2,622,620 12/ 1952 Annin 251-5 3,285,563 11/1966 Clarkson 251-8 FOREIGN PATENTS 137,351 1947 Australia. 504,449 1930 Germany. 614,351 1935 Germany.

WILLIAM F. ODEA, Primary Examiner.

R. GERARD, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A PINCH VALVE ADAPTED TO BE INSERTED AS PART OF A FLOW PIPE, COMPRISING A VALVE BODY, A UNITARY RESILIENT SLEEVE AND A VALVE PLUG ACTUATING UNIT, AN INLET AND OUTLET PORT IN THE VALVE BODY, AN INNER WALL OF THE BODY FORMING A FIRST PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN THE PORTS, TWO SPACED-APART PROTUBERANCES FORMING INNER WALL PORTIONS OF THE FIRST PASSAGEWAY, A FLEXIBLE SLEEVE OF THE SAME UNIFORM WALL THICKNESS BETWEEN ITS END PORTIONS EXTENDING THROUGH THE PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN THE INLET AND OUTLET PORTS AND HAVING OUTER SURFACES THEREOF IN PHYSICAL SURFACE TO SURFACE ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID PROTUBERANCES, A SECOND PASSAGEWAY OPENING INTO THE FIRST PASSAGEWAY AND FORMED BY TWO OPPOSING SIDE WALL SURFACES OF THE BODY AND A SURFACE OF EACH OF THE PROTUBERANCES, THE ACTUATING UNIT HAVING A MECHANICALLY OPERABLY COMPRESSING MEANS POSITIONED WITHIN THE SECOND PASSAGEWAY, AN ACTUATED END OF THE COMPRESSING MEANS BEING PROVIDED WITH A SEMISPHERICALSHAPED SURFACE, THE LARGEST CIRCUMFERENTIAL RING PORTION OF SAID SEMISPHERICAL-SHAPED SURFACE BEING OPERABLY POSITIONED FOR MOVEMENT FROM A NON-ENGAGED FIRST POSITION WITH THE LARGEST CIRCUMFERENTIAL RING PORTION OF A PREFORMED FLEXIBLE CONCAVE-SHAPED CENTRAL PORTION OF THE SLEEVE THAT IS POSITIONED IN THE SECOND PASSAGEWAY INTO 